Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Government's stand in tabling this motion, which is significant in light of the history of recent weeks. I also welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, to the House. The Minister of State's constituency is in the west. From speaking to people who work in Northern Ireland and who frequent Donegal, I have anecdotal evidence of a mood of optimism and perhaps we have a new horizon with positives and benefits as a result of the peace process instead of the historical negatives associated with the west such as lack of investment and the socioeconomic barriers.

For years people in Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim blamed the central approach to Government which is based on the British system. London had the same model which we adopted for Dublin. We have an opportunity to go back 400 years and it is significant that it is the 400th anniversary of the flight of the earls, prior to which we had local Gaelic sovereign kingdoms. We certainly do not want to go back to everything associated with that type of democracy but we must examine devolved democracy.

Scotland and Wales have shown the lead in terms of devolving from London. If one speaks to anybody from Fermanagh, Tyrone or Derry, one will hear a constant rhetoric in terms of west of the Bann being neglected by London. It was not deliberate, but with a centralised Government, the more peripheral one is, the more one loses out. We must combine the rhetoric of neglect from west of the Bann with the rhetoric of Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim people on the periphery of our geographic location and the rhetoric of neglect because of central power and come up with a strategy.

The only way to come up with such a strategy is to engage with all communities and political parties on both sides of the Border and both Administrations and examine matters at community and local authority level. This is nothing new. A great deal of work has been done, especially by the north-west cross-Border group which has worked for years on strategies for energy, infrastructure, railways, health and small and medium enterprises. However it lacks the teeth and mechanisms to deliver on these strategies.

Now that the new Assembly is up and running, we have collective goodwill from London and Dublin and all other politicians. No dissenting voices have been heard with regard to where we want to go. The only question is how we get there and what process is involved. I acknowledge the key role of Senator Mansergh in facilitating the process to reach the point to which we have come. In terms of addressing peripherality and negatives, we must engage sooner rather than later.

We must examine the language we use. We still speak in terms of North-South and this language will not be an overall solution for places such as Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Tyrone or Derry. We must examine east-west links from Burtonport to Belfast, the continued expansion of North-South links between Belfast and Dublin and links to the north west from Dublin to Letterkenny and on to Derry. We must examine infrastructure, energy co-operation and services along the Border areas.

Derry city is the fourth largest city on this island. On previous occasions in the House I spoke about urban sprawl into towns and villages such as Killea, St. Johnston, Newtowncunningham, Muff and Quigley's Point. People from Derry buy property or build houses in Donegal because of the urban sprawl associated with the city's expansion. We do not have a plan to deal with this. Neither do we have a plan to stop it from taking place. A link has always existed between Inishowen and Derry people.

Plans must be put in place in terms of infrastructural and community services such as proper sewerage and water and other community facilities. Last night, I canvassed in Newtowncunningham and met a couple from Derry who have lived there for seven years. They still send their children to school in Derry and continue to work there. However, as they pointed out to me they spend their money in Donegal and they feel a community focus for their children is missing. They feel the necessary community infrastructure is not in place. This is a challenge we have as a community in terms of the peace process.

With regard to Border and cross-Border issues which were problems and negatives, a great deal of positive work is carried out at cross-Border community level by community groups. St. Johnston and Newtowncunningham have very effective community groups. However, such groups cannot work on plans alone. They must be integrated into local authorities and financed. We must mainstream funding for community groups. Peace and reconciliation funding, ADMCPA, INTERREG 3 and the International Fund for Ireland provided substantial investments for cross-Border co-operation. They try to link people together because although we can speak of politicians moving the process forward at a political level, and Senator O'Rourke spoke of the expertise and politicians with vision to do so, we need people at a local level reaching out. There has been capacity building since 1995 and beforehand by groups such as INTERREG, the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and Co-operation North. We must mainstream our funding for communities.

This is not just a Border issue but one relevant to all parts of this island. We must think seriously about mainstreaming funding into the community sector. To digress a little, there is a cynicism among the electorate about politicians, be they in the Seanad, the Dáil, a Minister or Minister of State, or part of a local authority.

We are constantly working the local, and that personal aspect of politics is important. However, communities must be empowered to act for themselves, and we have an opportunity with this peace process and with the Assembly up and running to empower our communities in our Border villages in Northern Ireland and along the Border counties on the other side. We should keep them working together and mainstream the funding.

If I have one message, it is that we should mainstream the funding and continue to build the communities. I welcome the process and the roads we have taken. I very much welcome the current position on Northern Ireland.